In the iPhone and iPad app “Santa Rescue Saga: Doctor X Christmas Adventure,” children are tasked with healing Kris Kringle’s cold, getting him unstuck from a chimney, extricating him from a block of ice and assorted other adventures. Their mission: to allow Santa to do his job on Christmas night.

The app opens with a short rhyme:

Santa’s sick and like Rudolph,His nose is red!There’s no Christmas without him!Help him get out of bed!

The app’s producer is TabTale, an Israeli startup that has created 220 apps with more than 240 million downloads.

TabTale was ranked among the top ten app publishers by ranking site AppAnnie.com, and boasts $13.5 million in funding. Its stated mission is to create interactive, educational books and games for children on mobile devices.

The company can, in part, thank Christmas for that success. Among its dozens of children’s apps are no less than 10 devoted to December 25 and its associated characters.

“A Christmas Tale” is an interactive children’s book that tells kids the story of a family awaiting Santa at night and enjoying their presents in the morning. “The Shoemaker and the Elves” is, to quote the app’s own description, “A story by the Brothers Grimm adapted by Yael Nussbaum [and] illustrated by Is Gat.” I don’t know them, but I’m going to guess they don’t celebrate Christmas.

One note of caution: If you download the apps in Israel, don’t be surprised if, next to Santa, you see a sabra smiling at you from a banner ad for an Israeli dating website.

To get the latest from HaaretzFollow @HaaretzomLike us on Facebook and get articles directly in your news feed

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, and analysis from Israel and the Middle East.
Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict,
the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,
the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.